Who'd Have Known?
by 980973409158
Summary: AU Things take an unexpected turn for two contemptuous coworkers. Alex and Izzie
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Just an idea I had for an AI story. Let me know if you like it and think I should continue. :)**

Izzie smiled as she ran her perfectly manicured hands over the detailed drawings that had recently leap off the page into her upcoming spring collection. She'd worked meticulously perfecting each button, ruffle, and stitch. The colors worked together perfectly and weren't something that had been done before. She was extremely proud of the collection she and her designing partner and best friend Addison Montgomery had produced. This would be the first year that she and Addison would be presenting at New York's fashion week and just thinking about it had her stomach twisting in excitement.

Just then Addison poked her head into Izzie's office.

"Hey, Iz. Are you coming? We've got a meeting with marketing in a few minutes."  
"Ehh, yeah," Izzie said frustrated, getting up from her desk and following Addison out of the door. It wasn't that she wasn't excited about the major ad campaign they had planned for their upcoming line. She was. It more her marketing team that irked her. She couldn't stand the head of their marketing team, Alex Karev. He was an arrogant ass that had produced some of the sleaziest campaigns in history but everyone else thought that he would be good for them and Izzie was outnumbered.

She walked into the conference room after Addison and saw him sitting there. She tried to ignore slightly bit of stubble that was gracing his chin and the way his shirt accentuated his chest. He's an ass Izzie! Remember that. Look away. She tripped over her heel and awkwardly sat down in her chair. Why was her usual grace lost around him?

"So is it just you today Alex?" He nodded at her and then winked. "Ok let's start then." She looked over at Addison to take over.

"Well why don't you just start by showing us your prints, then Karev," Addison said nodding to Alex. He nodded back and got up to get the covered boards in the corner of the room.

"I think you're really going to love these. I think everything…" Alex began, but was cut off by Izzie.

"Wait, what?" Izzie interrupted. "Why do we already have prints? We haven't talked about our campaign yet?"

"Well," Addison began. "We kind of did. I talked to Alex a while back. We decided on the general path we wanted to take."  
Izzie looked shocked and upset. "You what?" she asked angrily.

"Don't worry. You're helping to choose now." Addison smiled reassuringly. The truth was they hadn't included Izzie in their planning because they knew she wouldn't agree to it. Now it would be too late. The money had been spent and she would have to choose from what they already had.

Izzie made a childish scowl before she turned to Alex's direction and gritted her teeth. "Fine! Then lets see what you've got."

"Okay… like I was saying. I think everything turned out perfectly. Just as I imagined." Alex smirked as he moved to unveil the stack of posters he had. Izzie's face grew more and more horrified as he revealed each print.

"What are these?" Izzie demanded appalled. "They're barely wearing our clothes!" She looked to Addison for support but she only shrugged.

"Yes, they are. And besides, this is what sells," Addison replied nonchalantly.

"She's right," Alex interrupted, grinning. "I would want to buy your clothes from this campaign." He gave her another one of his trademark smirks.

"Addison!" Izzie said, ignoring Alex and turning away from him. "We make classy, sophisticated, beautiful clothes! They shouldn't be reduced to this!" She turned back to Alex and pointed at one of the prints. "That girl! She's not wearing pants, Alex! That was supposed to be a shirt, not a dress!"

"I know," Alex tried to interrupt but Addison beat him to it.

"Izzie, listen to me. If we want to compete with other designers we have to have ads that are kind of sexy. And I don't think they're as a bad as you think they are."

"Please, Addison. That girl looks like she's practically having sex!" Izzie said pointing to another print. "It's pretty much porn."

"Shut up, already," Alex said to Izzie annoyed. "You hired me to design your damn campaign and that's what I did. It's what sells, Izzie. And if you don't like it, then you can hire someone else to give a shitty mediocre campaign that will be forgotten before its even seen," he gritted out.

"Okay," Addison said trying to smooth things out. "How about you leave the prints now, Alex and Izzie and I will talk about this and get back to you later, ok?"

"Whatever," he spat out as he started walking to the door. "Tell me when you've decided to release it to press."

Once he'd left the room Izzie turned to Addison. "How can you think it was a good idea to hire him? Did you see those pictures?" Izzie asked, still feeling somewhat aghast. This was not how she had imagined her line would be portrayed.

"I don't know, Iz. I think he's right. What's the point of designing clothes if they fly under the radar and nobody wears them?"

"I don't think they would fly under the radar," Izzie retorted. "Do you have such little faith in our designs?"

"No, that's not it," Addison sighed, frustrated. "How about we drop this for now? Let's sleep on it and talk about it again tomorrow," she said standing up. "Besides, it's getting pretty late and I think almost everyone else went home already."

"Okay," Izzie agreed. She stood up too and Addison pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you'd feel this strongly about this," she said. "Maybe you'll feel differently tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Izzie said doubtfully. "I'm going to go back to my office. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, don't forget to go home though."

"Haha," Izzie replied sarcastically. She would go home. She had a life outside of work. She did.

Sitting back in her office she thought about what Alex and Addison had said. _And if you don't like it, then you can hire someone else. _Alex's words rang through her head. The more she thought about it the more sure she became of what she wanted to do. If Addison could make decisions without her, then so could she. She ran out of her office and into the deserted hallways where she saw a light coming out of the room at the end. Perfect. That was Alex's workspace. She ran down the hallway as fast as her heels would allow and burst into the office. Alex was sitting at the desk and looked up at her, confused.

"Shouldn't you have left by now? Haven't got any place better to be?" He asked

"Well then why are you still here?" she retorted. Alex made a face and waved her remark away with his hand.

"What do you want?" He spat out.

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said and…."

"You've decided to stop being such a prude?" Alex cut her off.

"No." Izzie pinched her face together. "Not that. About hiring someone else. You're right. I'm going to do just that. So you're…"

Izzie stopped as she heard a muffled scream coming from down the hallway followed by a voice she couldn't understand.

"What the hell?" Alex got up from his chair and joined Izzie as she walked into the hallway. She hurried down to the bend of the hallway but then pulled back when she saw what was there.

"You stupid little bitch! You didn't think I would find out about this?" A large man with his back to Izzie and Alex hissed to someone she couldn't see. He moved slightly and Izzie saw the new intern girl they hired last week. She let out a gasp when he slapped her and was about to move forward to stop when he pulled out a gun and held it to the girl. Alex's hand moved up and covered her mouth to top her scream. He hooked his other arm around her waist and slowly pulled her back. He quietly shushed in her ear and started to walk them back slowly down the hallway.

"Please, no! Don't do it. I'm sorry!" The girl cried. The large man didn't respond. He only moved his finger against the trigger. At the sound of the gunshot Izzie let out a cry through Alex's hand and the man turned around and looked them straight in the eye.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Thanks for the reviews :) This is kind of a short chapter, but an important one. **

It took all of a millisecond for Alex to develop a plan. It was simple: Run. His breath caught in his throat as he whipped around, turning Izzie with him, and began to run the hallway in the other direction toward the staircase. Alex dared to look behind him as he ran, to see if the man was gaining on them. Surprisingly, he was limping far behind them. Izzie was just paces ahead of him when she reached the door to the stairwell. Just as Alex was walking through the door, a few shots were fired, accompanied by curses from the gunman, but all the shots missed him and he Izzie ran down the stairs unharmed.

Neither stopped to look at the other as they flew out of the building and straight into the backseat of a cab. Thank god for New York.

"Just drive," Alex said hastily to the cab driver. "Anywhere."

Izzie sat next to him, visibly shaking. She only vaguely heard Alex talking on his cell phone, telling the details of what they'd just witnessed, presumably to the police. She heard Alex groan and tell something to the cab driver but she wasn't sure what it was. This wasn't happening, she told herself over and over again in her head. What was that girl's name? Why couldn't she remember her name? Did she ever learn her name? Damn it! She couldn't remember.

Alex looked over at Izzie. Her body had stopped shaking but her hands were still trembling and she was looking vacantly ahead of her. He reached his hand out to try and comfort her but then hesitated and awkwardly withdrew it. Instead he just sat back and mimicked her pose until the cab pulled in front of a brick building. Izzie mechanically opened the door to the cab and got out but when she realized where she was she turned to Alex, confused.

"What… the police station? Alex, I just want to go home. I don't want to deal with any of this right now."

Alex gave her a confused look. "Izzie, weren't you paying attention in the cab? I talked to the police. They wanted us to come down here so they could question us." He looked at her carefully. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she groaned. "Let's just do this."  
Two police officers were waiting for them right outside the building and escorted them into a questioning room.

"Jeesh," Izzie mumbled once the officer left the two in the room alone. "I know it was bad, but this is New York. You'd think stuff like this happens all the time. Two police officers? Really?"  
Alex just shrugged. He didn't want to be here and more than Izzie did but they might as well just get this over with. A moment later a different officer walked into the room with a large folder that set down on the table and a stack of papers in his hand.

"Okay," he began, "I'm going to show a few different photos and you're going to tell me if any of them look like the man you saw tonight, okay?" He cut right to the chase and arranged the photos out of the table in front of them. Right away Alex pointed to the second picture.

"That's him," he said confidently.

"Miss, do you agree?" The officer asked Izzie.

"Yeah," Izzie said somewhat softly. 'That's him."  
The officer groaned and rubbed his temples as he sat down in a chair across from them. "Damn it!"

"What… why?" Alex asked confused.

"This folder here," he gestured to the folder on the table that was stuffed with papers three inches high, "contains all the information we have on the man you claim to have seen tonight, Cain Jackson. In that past eight months he's committed nine murders in the tri-city area and we believe he's made approximately seven other attempts.

"Damn…"Alex murmured.

"Well why haven't you caught him?!" Izzie asked, shocked. The police officer, Jim Bentford, Izzie read on his badge, squinted his eyes at her.

"We're trying, unfortunately he's very good at getting away," he told her.

"So what does this mean for us? I mean, we've answered your questions so can we go home now because there's…" Alex was cut off by Jim.

"No!" He snapped then rubbed his temples again. "I'm sorry… this is just… Would you prefer that we talk about this tomorrow? There are a lot of things we have to go over and maybe you'd like to sleep first. We can have some of our officers stay with you at your home or a hotel or wherever you like."

"No," Alex interrupted. "Let's just do this know. I want this whole thing to be behind us." He looked over at Izzie who nodded in agreement.

"Okay," he raised his eyebrows questioningly. "The truth is, you're still in danger. He's been known to come after witnesses to kill them. Four out of the nine people he killed witnessed his previous crimes."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Izzie asked exasperated. "We can't just stay with you all the time!"  
"No," Jim admitted, "that would be impractical." He paused for a moment and then continued, changing the subject. "Are you two a couple?" he asked, squinting at them.

"No!" They said together as Izzie's face pinched slightly in disgust and Alex sneered.

"It's going to be interesting then," he mumbled to himself and then, even quieter, said, "pretending to be together."

"What did you just say?" Alex leaned forward apprehensively.

"Never mind," he brushed it off. "Back to your question before," he nodded to Izzie. "Of course you don't just stay here. We have a specific protocol we follow in cases like these. Unfortunately, most people don't like it very much." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "You're going to have enter the witness protection program."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Thanks so much for the reviews :) It's nice to know people are enjoying the story. **

"I can't believe you're taking so long," Alex said, annoyed.

"Well, I can't believe they expect me to do this so quickly," Izzie countered. They were standing in Izzie's apartment as she sifted through every one of possessions and was attempting to find enough suitcases to fit them all.

Alex tapped his foot impatiently and looked back to see if the officers they had with them were going to intervene at some point. "You know, Izzie, they said to just bring a few essentials – some basic clothes, shoes – they'll have other things there for us."

"How can you act so flippantly about this? How lives have been turned upside down!" She stopped for a moment and began looking frantically around. "Where is my cell phone? I have to call Addison. I need to tell her I'm not coming into work today."

As if on cue the large police officer that was standing in the corner rushed over and grabbed Izzie's cell phone from her hand just as she picked it up from the table. "No, cell phones," he said gruffly. "No talking to anyone." He moved over to Izzie's pile and started picking things up. "And, we have to get rid of a lot of this stuff. You can't take any of these designer clothes. And all your heels? Can't take those either."

Alex smirked as the man took out a large garbage bag and starting filling it with Izzie's clothes. "But," Izzie began to protest as she picked up her favorite pair of Jimmy Choos. "But, I love my shoes."

"No," The officer said firmly, snatching the shoes from her and throwing them into a bag. "You won't blend in wearing these kinds of things. Other people don't dress like that where you're going."

Izzie let out an exasperated groan. "Well," she said irked, "I don't know where I'm going. You won't tell me."

"Look lady," The officer said annoyed. "We'll tell you when we're on the plane, which would happen a lot faster, if you would hurry up and finish packing. Your boyfriend was ready to go at 8:00 this morning. Hurry up!"  
"Oh, no," Izzie said irately. "He is not my boyfriend!"

"Whatever," the officer brushed her comment away with a wave of his hand.

"Fine!" Alex snapped, "If you're going to be so petulant, I will pack for you." He tore through her closet and grabbed all jeans and basic tops and threw them into the open suitcase Izzie had on the floor. The crumpled mess of clothes formed a small mountain, which he attempted to smooth out by pushing the clothes into the corners of the suitcase. He then sat on top of the suitcase so it would close and looked up at Izzie. "Can you zip me?"

Izzie made a disgusted face at him. "You're an animal. And I'm not wearing those clothes for god knows how long."

"Whatever," Alex retorted, "I'll do it myself." While still sitting on the suitcase, he maneuvered himself around so he could zip the suitcase closed. "There," He said, accomplished. "Now we're good to go."

"Um, no Alex. I still don't even have shoes."

Alex looked in her closet and grabbed a pair of tennis shoes which he tossed at her. "Here. Wear these."

"Alex! Those are my jogging shoes! I cannot wear those all the time."

"You're right." He nodded. "It could be snowy where we're going. Do you have any hiking boots?" Alex smirked at her.

Izzie shot him a dirty look and moved back to her closet. She pulled out a pair of plain black flats. "These aren't too fancy, are they?" She asked the officer sarcastically.

"No, they're fine." He replied, ignoring the tone of her voice.

Izzie threw her flats at Alex and when he gave her a weird look, she told him, "Well, you wanted to pack for me!" Izzie sat down on her bed and laid her head in her hands and began rubbing her temples. This was ruining everything. How long would they have to stay away? A couple of weeks? A month? Longer than that? Izzie didn't want to think about it. Fashion week was only two months from now. What if they couldn't return home by then? What would people even think while she was gone? Would Addison know where she was? She would have to ask Jim later.

The other officer, who, until now, was just waiting by the doorway looking bored, lifted her head to speak. "Are you finished yet? We're supposed to meet Officer Bentford in 30 minutes."

"Yeah, I guess so," Izzie said slightly defeated. She walked over to get her suitcase when the first officer stopped her. "Wait. I have to look through your bag first. Make sure you don't have anything you shouldn't have, like a cell phone or laptop."

"Seriously?" Izzie said frustrated. "You just took my cell phone from me and you watched Alex pack my bag. Really?"

The officer squinted his eyes at her and unzipped the bag that Alex worked hard to close. He sifted through the contents quickly before zipping it up easily again. Alex made a snorting noise at him as if to dismiss the ease with which he closed the bag. "I have to search through your bag too," He said to Alex. Alex handed him his suitcase which the large officer then proceeded to search. His suitcase was packed similarly to Izzie's – a wrinkled mess of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and jeans. He search through the pile and pulled out a large box of condoms.

"No." He said simply to Alex and tossed the box of condoms into his garbage bag."

"No?" Alex asked incredulously. "Why the hell not?"

"We'll talk about everything once you're on the plane." He said firmly.

"Well then lets get to this damn plane," Alex spat.

* * *

Izzie and Alex sat next to each other in the soft beige leather chairs of the private jet. Jim Bentford sat facing them across a table in a chair identical to theirs. Alex turned his chair back and forth slightly, trying not to let on how nervous he was. He had to give up everything for this. Not that he had much choice in the matter. He loved his life in New York. Sure, his mother just couldn't fathom why he wasn't married yet. Alex's younger brother got married last year and his wife was already expecting a baby. But at twenty-seven, Alex felt way too young to be married. His job was great and that was enough – plus it came with awesome perks like industry parties and lingerie models. Now he would have to give that all up and for what? To live with a prudent woman who hated his guts. Fantastic.

"Okay," Jim began blatantly, "Let's just get out all the facts." He paused for a moment and then continued. "You're going to a town called Bloomfield, Nebraska. It's a rural town, about 1000 people, and it's completely off the map. We have an officer stationed there that will be in charge of your case. Richard Webber. He's the head of the police department there, which actually only has two other guys working there." He chuckled for a moment. "They're not really necessary though. Nothing ever happens in Bloomfield. But that's why it's going to be your job." He nodded to Alex.

"Me… what?" Alex stammered confused.

"That's the cover story for why you moved here. You'll be there under the guise that they need a new police officer and you're there to take the job."

"But…" Alex began to protest.

"Don't worry," Jim interrupted. "It doesn't matter that you haven't been trained. You won't have to do anything. Hell, none of them ever do anything."

Alex nodded uneasily as he began to process his new life.

"Oh," Jim said as he reached into a bag by his side and pulled out a small box. "You're going to have to wear these." He opened the box and plopped two rings into his hand. One a plain a gold band and the other one an identical smaller version except for a couple of small diamonds on the top."

"Um, excuse me? Why?" Izzie asked exasperated. As she looked at them, Izzie's lip curled slightly in disgust. They looked like wedding bands. Cheap wedding bands. She turned her head ever so slightly and looked at the man next to her out of the corner of her eye. "Please don't tell those are what I think they are!" Izzie begged.

"These are your wedding bands," Jim beamed as Izzie groaned. "Congratulations you two! I knew this day would come!" He laughed as gave Alex a pat on his back. The looks on both Alex's and Izzie's faces told him they didn't think it was funny. He became serious again. "It's really the best solution. It would look strange if two unattached people moved to a town together. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. It does. It just raises fewer questions when the people moving in together are married."

Alex nodded slowly as he swallowed. "So does this has something to do with your large friend taking away my condoms earlier?"

"Yeah," Jim rubbed the back of his neck. "He was a little hasty in doing that. We just don't want either of you sleeping with other people there. It's raises rumors of affairs and the whole town will be gossiping about you. We don't need to draw more attention to you than we need to. But you can have the condoms back, if you want. You two can have sex with each other all you want." He winked at them.

Alex looked over at Izzie whose face was a mixture of shock and disgust. "Yeah, that's okay." Alex said. "I don't think I'll be needing those back."

"What about me?" Izzie interjected.

Jim looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well Alex is a police officer. What's my job?" Izzie clarified.

"Oh," Jim said, understanding. "No." He then said simply. "You don't get a job. You can just stay at home, be a housewife."

"What?" Izzie asked incredulously. "Why? I want a job too!"

"There really aren't that many readily available jobs in Bloomfield," Jim explained. "And it's not that uncommon in Bloomfield to be a stay-at-home mom."

"We don't have any children," Izzie gritted. "Unless you have some more surprises for us."

Jim laughed. "Now that would be something! But no, we don't. I'm just saying it's not that uncommon for women not to have a job there."

"But I want a job," Izzie said persistently.

"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do right now," Jim dismissed the topic.

Everything in her life was ruined. First she had to give up her job, her gorgeous new line, fashion week, and then her best friend Addie. And now she wasn't even allowed to get a new job and had to lounge around the house all day waiting for her doting husband to come home. And that was another thing entirely! Those stupid wedding bands. They were ugly and not all what her wedding ring was supposed to look like. And she definitely wasn't supposed to get married to Alex! The immature, misogynistic, lothario was not the kind of man she planned on marrying. And even though she knew it wasn't real, she someone felt she was getting cheated of the experience and when it happened for real it would seem like a do-over. Izzie hesitated for a moment but then grabbed the ring from the table and slipped it on her finger. As soon as it was on she turned away but saw out of the corner her eye that Alex took his ring too. She folder her arms across her chest as Jim continued to talk.

"As for your family and friends, we will let them know that you had to leave temporarily on police orders but we don't tell them anymore than that. Not what happened, not for how long you'll be gone – because we don't even know that -, and definitely not where you are." He paused for a moment and then continued. "Okay, your background story. Your last name is now Grant. You can keep your first names, otherwise it gets too confusing. You moved from Cedar Rapids, Iowa because Alex's job at the police department there got cut." He looked at Izzie. "You stayed at home there, too."

Izzie grimaced at him as he continued.

"Alex, you grew up in Cedar Rapids and now your parents live in Florida. You don't have any siblings. Izzie, you grew up in Des Moines and your parents are now living in Arizona. You have sister who lives in Boston but you don't talk to her very much. You two met at Iowa State, where you went to school, and you got married two years ago. Got everything?"

Izzie and Alex nodded slowly, somewhat unsure.

"We think its helps just to have a basic story to stick with, just in case people ask you questions and catch you off guard." Jim looked down at his watch. "We should be landing any minute. This is the plan from here. We're landing at a private runway about 30 miles outside of Bloomfield. We'll have a moving truck full of things there waiting for you. Here are some directions on how to get there." Jim pulled out a piece of paper and waved it between the two of them before Alex snatched. "And if you have any questions, call Richard Webber. His phone number is in this cell phone." He handed them an old looking cell phone. "Oh, and don't try to do something funny and call people from home. We have officers monitoring every call this phone makes so you can't get away with anything."

They both nodded as Izzie took the cell phone in her hands. Just as they finished talking, the plane began to descend and they landed on an abandoned runway. They were escorted off the plane as they saw another officer take their suitcases and put them into the back of a moving truck. As far as Izzie could see, the truck was filled with average, country-style furniture and hooked behind the trailer was a beige sedan.

The man who had their suitcases came over to them and handed Alex a set of keys. "Good luck," he said as he patted Alex's shoulder and smiled at Izzie. Reluctantly, the two of them got into the front of the moving truck began driving to their new home. After about thirty minutes of driving past cornfields they arrived in a small town. As they drove into an old looking neighborhood a sign welcomed them: Bloomfield – The Busy City. Alex laughed at their claim and then said, "This is going to be interesting."

**A/N - Bloomfield, NE is a real town. Here is a link to a picture - **www. city-data. com/ picfilesc /picc12096 .php **without spaces**


	4. Chapter 4

Alex pulled the moving truck into a worn down driveway in front of a small one story white house. It had a small porch in front and the paint on the house was chipping off. The yard was so small that the neighboring houses were pushed up close to it. He turned the ignition off and looked again at the piece of paper that Jim had given him and matched up the addresses just to make he didn't make a mistake. Yes, this was indeed the house that would be theirs. He looked at the house a moment longer before he dared to get out. The house looked small. Small like his studio apartment in Manhattan. But it had been fine there. He lived there by himself and didn't actually spend that much time in his apartment. It wouldn't be like that here. He'd have to share the small space with another person, and not just any other person - a person who hated him. And they would likely be spending a lot of time in this house. He didn't foresee a lot of things happening in this town.

Izzie moved before he did and slowly opened the passenger side door and climbed out. Hesitantly, he opened got out of the truck too and followed her to the front door of their new house. Izzie hesitated before the door for a moment as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to go in or not.

"Key?" Izzie turned around and looked at him expectantly.

"Oh," Alex said somewhat to himself and began sifting the keys he had in his hand until he found one that looked like a house key and tried. It turned easily and he looked up to smile at Izzie but she didn't look and walked past him into the house.

Izzie took in a sharp breath as she looked around. The front door entered into a sort of all-purpose room. It appeared to contain the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one space, sectioned off only by changes in flooring. It was a far cry from her spacious Upper East Side apartment. She walker farther in the room and down a hallway extending out of the left side of the room. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the remaining rooms. On one side of the short hallway, there was a small bedroom and on the other side, only a bathroom. She turned around quickly and ran straight into Alex, not realizing how close behind her he was. He stumbled awkwardly backwards and rubbed his hand nervously across the back of his neck.

"Um, I think we should go look to see what's all in the trailer… start unpacking…" His voice died off as he went but Izzie nodded and followed him outside.

Alex went over to the back of the trailer and navigated around the car that was still hooked to the back and pushed the door up. It was packed with furniture – a bed, sofa, table, - lots of things that were way too big to carry by himself.

"I think I'm going to need some help with this," he turned to Izzie.

She leaned her back against the side of the moving truck casually. "Why don't you call Richard? Jim said to call him if we needed help with anything. And I don't think we can carry this by ourselves."

"Yeah, okay," Alex nodded. "Do you still have the cell phone?" She nodded and pulled it out of her back pocket and handed it to him. As Alex made the phone call Izzie climbed into the back of the moving truck and pulled her suitcase out and started to drag it into the house.

After a few moments Alex hung up the phone and grabbed his suitcase too. "Richard said he would be over here in a few minutes to help us. Said he was bringing a couple of other guys from the police department with him."

"Okay, great," Izzie said as she was struggling to drag across the driveway. It made a grating sound against the pavement with every step she took.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked her curiously. "That thing has wheels you know."

"I know I think they're broken or something. They won't turn."

Alex groaned and then picked both her suitcase up in his arm and carried both of them in the house. He turned around and smirked at her as he walked.

"I could have gotten that you know!" Izzie called after him.

"Yeah whatever."  
Just then Izzie heard a high pitched squeal coming from the house next door followed by a pregnant woman penguin running across the lawn over to her.

"Frank!" The pregnant woman yelled back to her house. "They're here! They moved in!"

The woman kept running at Izzie and when she reached her, she immediately wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Izzie flinched at the unexpected contact and moved back slightly but the woman didn't seem to notice.

"Hi, I'm Sydney," She said energetically and smiled. "My husband Frank's inside and this," she said, rubbing her stomach, "is little baby Maggie." She laughed. "My other kids Matt, Melinda, Mason, Marshall, and Malia are all at school right now. I just couldn't wait to have another so here we are again." She laughed again. "I've just heard so much about you! You must be Izzie, Izzie Grant. We're super excited to have a new family in the neighborhood. We're always looking for play-dates for all the little ones! I heard you didn't have any kids yet though. But you could have one soon!" She coed and her hands reached out to attack Izzie's stomach. "Do you have a little baby in there?"

"Oh, um, no," Izzie said uncomfortably. "I –"

Sydney cut her off. "Don't worry it'll happen for you soon enough. You and your husband Alex must be so excited for a kid right now! Where is he anyway, your husband." She looked around Izzie to peer into house.

Unsure of what to do with the jumpy woman in front of her, Izzie tried to answer her question. "He's in the hou-" but Izzie was cut off again when Sydney gasped.

"Oh I almost forgot! I baked cookies to bring over for you and I completely forgot to grab them. Oh, you must think I'm such a terrible neighbor. I'll be right back." Sydney rushed back to her house leaving a confused Izzie wondering what exactly just happened.

Alex came back out the house and walked over to her. "What was all that noise? Did Richard get here yet?"

"No, I just met our new neighbor."

"Oh that's nice," Alex said mechanically.

"Yeah… she was interesting."

Just then a car pulled up to their house and three men got out of the car. An older man with grey sprinkling his hair waved at Alex and Izzie and walked over to them.

"Hi, I'm Richard Webber," he said, shaking both their hands. "And you must Alex and Izzie Grant." He smiled knowingly. "I brought your two new coworkers with me to help," he said to Alex and pointed at the two men following behind him. "That's Owen Hunt and Derek Shepherd."

"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking their hands.

"So I hear you'll be joining us pretty soon at the police academy." Derek made conversation with Alex.

"Yeah, I am."

"Well its not a bad job," he continued. "We see a little bit of stuff but probably nothing like what you saw in the big city."

Alex laughed nervously until understanding dawned on him. "Oh, right! Yeah, we had a bit of crime in Cedar Rapids. Wasn't too bad though."

Just then Sydney came running back across the lawn carrying a Tupperware container smiling eagerly.

"Who is that?" Alex asked

Owen chuckled. "You haven't met Sydney yet? I'm surprised. I would have thought that she'd be here waiting for you even before you arrived."

"Huh?" Alex was still confused.

"Just stay clear of her," Derek advised and chuckled. "Hey where's your wife Izzie?"

"Oh yeah," Alex said, almost forgetting. "Um, Izzie?" He motioned for her to come over and she gladly excused herself from Sydney. "Come meet Derek and Owen. They're the guys from the police department."

"It's so nice to meet you," Izzie said to both of them as she walked up to Alex and slid her hand into his. He instinctively pulled away from her but she grabbed his hand again and shot a look at him. "So is there anything interesting going on in town this week? I have to find something to keep myself busy while Alex is busy a work all day." She pulled him closer as she said this and smiled at him.

"Hmm, I'm not sure," Derek thought. "There usually is something you can volunteer for."

"The elementary school is organizing a carnival right now," Owen chimed in. "I'm sure they'd love any help they can get."

"That would be perfect!" Izzie smiled sincerely.

"Alright then. If everybody is all set," Derek said, clapping his hands together. "Let's get started moving stuff in." He and Owen walked over to the trailer but Alex pulled Izzie back.

"What are you doing?" He hissed and pulled his hand away from.

"I'm being a convincing couple. Obviously you have no idea how that works. Do you really expect they're going to believe us when you act like that?" She hissed back.

"Well you can't just come up behind me and maul me. Give me a bit of a warning."  
"Oh please I did not maul you," Izzie said annoyed. "Just get over there and help them."

Alex grumbled as he went over to help the other guys. The men carried all the furniture in with Izzie directing where everything should go. Sydney tried to help with everything but when she wasn't needed anywhere, she eventually gave up and left, muttering something about having to pick up her kids. Soon everything was moved in and, after making plans for when Alex would start work and giving Izzie more details about when to go to the elementary school, Richard, Derek and Owen left leaving Alex and Izzie alone.  
Izzie was sitting at the kitchen shifting a glass of water back and forth between her hands, every once and a while picking it up to take a drink. Alex sat down on a chair across the table and drummed his fingers on the table.

"So... all alone now." Alex began awkwardly.

"Yeah…" Izzie said mindlessly.

"I think I'm going into work pretty early so I don't know if I'll see you before I leave."

Izzie nodded. "I think I'm going to the elementary school around noon to start the planning."

Alex nodded too and everything was silent again. "Well, about the sleeping arrangements… I'm sure you've already noticed that we only have one bedroom here and I –"  
"Alex," Izzie cut him off, but he continued before she could say anything.

"No, just wait. I know it would super uncomfortable for us to sleep in the same bed, so I'll just make things easier and sleep on the couch." He watched closely for her reaction and smiled when she nodded. "Okay, well it's getting late so," He nodded over to the couch on the other side of the room. "I think I'm going to call it a night."

"Alright I'll go to the bedroom so I won't bother you." Izzie got up to leave and turned around once before going down the hall. "Night Alex."  
"Night Izzie."


End file.
